Yeah no it's not good, there are specific laws dealing with the sale of public capital items. So essentially what these guys were doing was, picking out a car they liked, using it officially for a bit, knowing it would go to auction then buying it directly (big no-no) without going through any type of public auction.

One would assume there are policies in place to prevent a conflict of interest like this, in which case the officers would have known what they were doing was wrong. I think it's more that police need to be seen to be beyond reproach and this sort of behaviour is unseemly.

They should have been charged with fraud (or at least misconduct in public office), not just sacked.

If it was a crime then that should obviously be the case but if it was simply a violation of internal policy then being sacked is the appropriate response. I'm not sure that the threshold has been met for Misconduct In Public Office and it would be for the CPS to determine whether to pursue such a case.

Yes, but they pick out their favorite car in the hope that it won't be damaged or destroyed and that they can buy it cheap when it's time to roll out new cars.

I think there's been a misunderstanding.. I meant the officer could buy the car, use it in whatever 'covert' operation the car was suited for, and if it got destroyed, oh well, at least the force didn't have to shell out another £11-£30+k to replace it

better than seeing some very good cars, with lots of life and service left in them be used like this and not potentially go to scrap, because no one bought them